Producing abuse: selling the harms of pornography

The extent to which pornography is - and is implicated in - men's violence against women, has been a controversial topic in both popular and academic debate. In this debate, the testimonies of women have often had a crucial role to play. The emphasis on women's words has, however, arguably served the porn industry well in allowing the debate to remain about women and their choices. Indeed, stories about the abuse of female performers in and through pornography have become part and parcel of the meta-discourse surrounding the contemporary commercial industry. This article focuses on what the porn industry has had to say about its own production practices, detailing the different kinds of violence against women which are now routinely publicly acknowledged by industry insiders and considering how and why these stories function for the industry.